December
1956

Founding of Mabanaft Inc., New York

Mabanaft Inc. is the first Marquard & Bahls subsidiary overseas. Mr. Weisser justifies the development as follows:

“We mean to intensify our contacts to our suppliers in the USA. This is not possible from Hamburg. Unfortunately, our contacts with the Eastern Bloc often give rise to problems with our suppliers here in the USA. We will try to explain to our American business associates why these agreements are important to our supply chain. We are hoping for more empathy and tolerance.

Most certainly, setting up the subsidiary is a further means of expanding the company. Our company has grown markedly over the last couple of years, with our sales volume climbing from 100,000 to 250,000 tons between 1954 and 1955: a jump of 150%. A further leap of at least 100,000 tons looks set for 1955. We therefore feel it is high time we secured a larger stake in the international trading business. Setting up Mabanaft Inc., N.Y. is the first step in this direction.

The subsidiary in the USA will trade under the name of Mabanaft. In 1950 our tank terminal in Karlsruhe was dubbed MABAG, this being short for Marquard & Bahls GmbH. But as the name MABAG often led to confusion, the contraction "Mabanaft" for Marquard & Bahls Naftaproducts was created. We've been using this short form as our telegram address for quite some time. We think that the name is catchy and therefore ideal for our overseas activities."